Drinking and Driving in Texas: DWI Penalties and License Suspension

Drinking and driving in Texas is prosecuted as driving while intoxicated (DWI), and even a first conviction is a criminal offense that can mean up to 180 days in county jail, a $2,000 fine, and a driver’s license suspension of up to one year. Penalties climb sharply with each repeat offense, with higher blood alcohol readings, and when children, injuries, or deaths are involved. The costs that follow a conviction — insurance, interlock devices, legal fees, lost work — routinely exceed the court fine itself.

The Legal Limits

For drivers 21 and older, the limit is a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08%, measured as grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood or 210 liters of breath.¹ Body weight, food, and how fast you drink all affect how quickly you reach that number. Police can also arrest you below 0.08% if your driving shows visible impairment.

Commercial drivers face a 0.04% limit while operating a commercial vehicle, on or off duty.² Drivers under 21 are subject to zero tolerance: any detectable amount of alcohol is enough for arrest, a tow, and a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol by a minor.³

Penalties by Offense

First DWI

A first DWI is a Class B misdemeanor with a mandatory minimum of 72 hours in jail.⁴ The judge can go up to 180 days in county jail and a fine up to $2,000.⁵ License suspension runs 90 days to one year.⁶

Second DWI

A second DWI is a Class A misdemeanor with a 30-day minimum in jail.⁷ The maximum fine is $4,000 and the maximum jail sentence is one year.⁸ Suspension stretches to between 180 days and two years.⁶

Third DWI

A third DWI is a third-degree felony. The sentence is 2 to 10 years in state prison, with a possible fine up to $10,000.⁹ License suspension again runs 180 days to two years, but the lasting consequence is the felony record itself, which surfaces in employment, housing, and professional licensing checks.⁶

What Can Make a First DWI Worse

BAC of 0.15 or Higher

A chemical test showing 0.15 or more bumps even a first offense up to a Class A misdemeanor, raising the fine ceiling to $4,000 and the jail maximum to one year.⁴⁸

Open Container

An open container within reach keeps the charge at Class B but quadruples the mandatory minimum from 72 hours to six days in jail.⁴ A judge cannot waive those six days.

Child Passenger

DWI with a passenger younger than 15 is a state jail felony on its own, carrying 180 days to two years in state jail and a fine up to $10,000.¹⁰¹¹ The charge can also prompt a Child Protective Services investigation.

When Someone Gets Hurt

Causing serious bodily injury while intoxicated is intoxication assault, a third-degree felony with 2 to 10 years in prison and a possible $10,000 fine. The statute defines serious bodily injury as injury creating a substantial risk of death, permanent disfigurement, or long-term loss of function of an organ or limb.¹²⁹

Causing a death is intoxication manslaughter, a second-degree felony punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison.¹³ Prosecutors do not have to prove intent to harm. Driving drunk and causing a fatal crash is enough on its own.

Breath and Blood Tests

Driving on a Texas road is implied consent to a breath or blood test after a lawful DWI arrest.¹⁴ You can refuse, but refusal carries its own penalty, and in several situations an officer can get a warrant and compel a blood draw anyway: crashes involving serious injury or death, a child passenger in the vehicle, or a driver with two or more prior DWI convictions.¹⁵

A first refusal with no prior alcohol-related contacts triggers a 180-day license suspension. One prior alcohol-related enforcement contact within the past 10 years pushes that to a two-year suspension.¹⁶ The refusal suspension stands even if you are later acquitted of the criminal DWI charge.

The 15-Day Window to Save Your License

License suspension after a DWI arrest runs on a separate track from the criminal case, and it moves fast. At arrest, the officer takes your license, hands you a temporary permit, and serves a notice of suspension. You have 15 days from the date of that notice to request an Administrative License Revocation (ALR) hearing. Miss the deadline and the suspension kicks in automatically on the 40th day after the notice was served.¹⁷

The hearing is narrow in scope. It looks at whether the officer had reasonable grounds, whether the test was properly administered, and whether you were informed of the consequences. Winning the ALR hearing keeps your license from administrative suspension but has no effect on the pending criminal case.

Keeping Yourself Driving

When a court suspends a license after a DWI conviction, the judge must restrict the driver to vehicles with an ignition interlock device. This applies across the DWI statutes, from standard DWI through intoxication manslaughter, and the device stays installed through the suspension period unless the court finds good cause to remove it.¹⁸ Installation runs around $85, with monthly monitoring fees roughly $80 to $110.

If you need to drive for work, school, or essential household duties during a suspension, you can petition the court for an occupational license. The waiting period depends on your record: immediate eligibility with no alcohol-related contacts in the past five years; at least 91 days with one prior contact; at least 181 days with a prior DWI conviction in the past five years; and at least one year for a second or subsequent conviction within five years.¹⁹ Installing an interlock on every vehicle you own or operate can allow the court to issue the occupational license sooner and sometimes bypass the usual waiting period.

The Real Cost of a First Offense

The fine on the judgment is a small share of what a DWI actually costs. Add these up and a first offense routinely runs $10,000 or more.

SR-22 insurance filing. Texas requires a Financial Responsibility Insurance Certificate (SR-22) for two years after conviction, proving you carry the state-mandated minimum liability coverage. The filing fee is modest; the premium is not.²⁰
Insurance rate increases. Premiums commonly double and stay elevated for three to five years. Some carriers drop convicted drivers and push them into high-risk pools with steeper pricing.
Defense attorney fees. A private attorney for a first-offense misdemeanor DWI commonly charges between $2,500 and $7,500. Felony charges and trials cost more.
Ignition interlock. Installation plus monthly monitoring runs roughly $1,000 to $1,500 a year.

Texas repealed its Driver Responsibility Program surcharges effective September 1, 2019, and those surcharges no longer apply to any DWI conviction, past or future.²¹

If You Hold a CDL

Commercial drivers get hit twice. Under federal rules, a first alcohol-related conviction or test refusal brings a one-year disqualification from operating any commercial motor vehicle. A second triggers a lifetime disqualification.²² The disqualification applies whether the offense happened in a commercial truck or a personal car, and the 0.04% CDL limit means a professional driver can be disqualified at half the alcohol level that would trigger a standard DWI.²

Non-Citizens and International Travel

Canada reclassified impaired driving as “serious criminality” in December 2018. A single DWI conviction can make you inadmissible, and border officers can turn you away long after the sentence is complete. Permanent resolution requires an application for criminal rehabilitation, available once five years have passed since all parts of the sentence are finished, including probation and license suspension.²³

For non-citizens living in the United States, a standard DWI is not automatically a deportable offense, but it can become one in combination with other factors. Multiple convictions with aggregate sentences of five years or more can create inadmissibility. A single DWI arrest within the past five years can prompt a medical evaluation during an immigration application, and a finding of alcohol use disorder can independently block approval. Any non-citizen facing a DWI charge should talk to an immigration attorney before entering a plea.

Professional Licenses

Texas licensing boards for professions such as nursing, teaching, law, and real estate generally require disclosure of any criminal conviction, including a misdemeanor DWI. A first-offense misdemeanor rarely revokes a license on its own, but boards review case by case and can impose conditions ranging from probation to mandatory substance abuse treatment. A felony DWI carries far more weight and can result in revocation.

Failing to report is often treated more harshly than the offense. Many boards set a reporting deadline that starts at arrest rather than conviction, so check your board’s rules immediately if you hold any professional license.

1
Texas Department of Transportation. Impaired Driving and Penalties – DUI/DWI
2
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Is a Driver Disqualified for Driving a CMV While Off-Duty with a Blood Alcohol Concentration Over 0.04 Percent
3
Texas Department of Public Safety. Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Division – DL-20
4
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 49.04 – Driving While Intoxicated
5
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.22 – Class B Misdemeanor
6
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code TRANSP 521.344
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State of Texas. Texas Code Penal 49.09 – Enhanced Offenses and Penalties
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.21 – Class A Misdemeanor
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.34 – Third Degree Felony Punishment
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 49.045 – Driving While Intoxicated with Child Passenger
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.35 – State Jail Felony Punishment
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 49.07 – Intoxication Assault
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State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 49.08 – Intoxication Manslaughter
14
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code TRANSP 724.011 – Consent to Taking of Specimen
15
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code TRANSP 724.012 – Taking of Specimen
16
Texas Public Law. Texas Transportation Code 724.035 – Suspension or Denial of License
17
Department of Public Safety. Administrative License Revocation (ALR) Program
18
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code TRANSP 521.246
19
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code 521.251 – Effective Date
20
Texas Department of Public Safety. Financial Responsibility Insurance Certificate (SR-22)
21
Texas Department of Public Safety. Driver Responsibility Program Surcharge Repeal FAQs
22
eCFR. 49 CFR 383.51 – Disqualification of Drivers
23
Canada.ca. Convicted of Driving While Impaired